The Goal Line Ghost of Terrible Terry
The Goal Line Ghost of Terrible Terry is the first of two stories in ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?'' #7, by DC Comics. It was followed by the reprint, The Curse of the Scary Scarab. Premise Shaggy and Scooby are in their glory as their favorite football team is poised to enter the playoffs for the first time in many years. But a all too familiar ghost of the past is planning to place a hex on the Clevertown team, Terrible Terry Harrison has come back from the grave to sabotage the next Clevertown game against Terry's team and arch rival from Pittsland. Synopsis Shaggy and Scooby are in their glory as their favorite football team is poised to enter the playoffs for the first time in decades. Since they often overeat, they get sleepy then miss the game's final score, only to hear the results announced on their favorite radio program, Marty the Maniac. Shaggy, like many other people in Clevertown, is looking with anticipation towards an upcoming game against Pittsland, who is Clevertown's big rival. Shaggy remarks that Pittsland has been in a slump these past few years. Just then, Shaggy's radio is overtaken by the voice of "Terrible Terry", who says that Clevertown is doomed. At the radio station, Marty's boss says that they need to get to the bottom of this, or else the superstiousness will get out of hand. Not only will Marty and his boss lose their jobs, the football team could become disenchanted. Marty's boss hires the Scooby gang to find out what is going on. Marty's boss gives the Scooby gang the background on everything: The Clevertown-Pittsland rivalry goes all the way back to the 1970s. One of the players for Pittsland, Terrence Harris, a.k.a. "Terrible Terry Harris", staged a successful play called the "ridiculous recovery" during a game that deep-sixed Clevertown's chance at a Super Bowl bid in 1980. Since then, it had been many years of dismal seasons until now when Clevertown has had a good season and Pittsland has fallen on hard times, not being able to muster players with the skill of Terrence Harris. Marty remarks that he is unsure why Terrible Terry is doing this, considering he retired from professional football in 1983 and has not been in the papers much since enjoying his retirement in West Palm Beach. Marty's boss tells Marty that Terrible Terry made the papers again recently: the obituaries, as he died of cancer in Florida two years ago! Marty's boss is not ready to believe that Terrence Harris has actually come back from the grave to harass Clevertown. He offers the more plausible explanation that some joker is hijacking the airwaves during Marty's show. Velma and Fred believe that someone is emitting a radio frequency signal of such magnitude it can drown out Marty's show. They use an RF tracker, finally getting a spike in one residental area. The group bursts into a house where Pittsland fans are watching a game, making them the chief suspects. However, this only serves to put egg on the face of the Scooby gang, as the police find no evidence of wrongdoing and it culminates into a press conference where the mayor chides the group and apologizes to those suspects, saying it is not a crime for Clevertown natives to appreciate Pittsland. After being served humble pie, the group tries again. Velma says that maybe the target is not Clevertown football; it could be Marty. Velma asks Shaggy who was Marty's predeccesor in regards to the time slot; Shaggy says it was some girly radio show about having a nice home with candlemaking, quilting and such. While Marty is making his show, the group waits at the studio. True to form, "Terrible Terry" appears, saying that Pittsland will slaughter Clevertown. They see the light in on in one booth, and burst in, seeing that the voice of Terrible Terry is in actuality Susan Stewart, who was looking to damage Marty's credibility and popularity as she lost her show to him. Marty's boss thanks the group and the following week having Marty's radio show, saying Clevertown easily beat Pittsland and is looking good for a championship playoff. Characters Main characters: * ** Scooby-Doo ** Shaggy Rogers ** Fred Jones ** Daphne Blake ** Velma Dinkley Supporting characters: * Marty * Marty's boss Villains: * Ghost of Terrible Terry Harris * Susan Stewart Other characters: * Terrible Terry Harris * Pittsland fans * Newscaster * Mayor Locations * Clevertown ** Clevertown Sports Radio ** Pittsland fans' home * Pittsland Objects * Pizza Vehicles * The Mystery Machine * Police cars Suspects Culprits Notes/trivia * This ghost is unusual because there is no disguise, it's just a voice taking over the radio channel. Cultural references * "Jabberjaw and the Neptunes" are a reference to Hanna-Barbera's Jabberjaw cartoon. Coloring mistakes * None known. Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities * The gang apparently live in Clevertown, when DC Comics had already clearly established they live in Coolsville, before and after this. * The roof of the Mystery Machine has two orange vertical lines and one green vertical line painted along the center. Quotes Category:Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (DC Comics) stories